by Adam Carr on 20 Feb 2013 01:42
I spent three weeks in Russia, and all my accommodation and internal travel was arranged by my travel agent here in Melbourne, who work with a travel agency in Russia. All of this has to be booked and paid for in advance, since you can't get a Russian visa without lodging a full itinerary. I paid for it all as a package, so I can't tell you what each item cost, but Lonely Planet has plenty of information. I flew Moscow-Volgograd on a Russian domestic airline. They have a terrible reputation but I survived. I didn't have any major bureaucratic problems in Russia, although the slowness and inefficiency of places like post offices and railway ticket offices can be annoying. I was strongly advised to fly in and out of Russia, since there are often problems and delays at land crossings, so on departure I flew Kaliningrad-Warsaw rather than take the train. I didn't find the language barrier much problem, even in provincial cities like Volgograd and Kaliningrad. I recommend learning to read the Cyrillic alphabet which is very useful for street signs etc. I found the Russians to be friendly and helpful, though service in cafes and shops can be very slow.
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